After a decade of tool innovation, what comes next?
AbstractA decade ago, now-seminal work showed that children are strikingly unskilled at simple tool innovation. Since then, a surge of research has replicated these findings across diverse cultures, which has stimulated evocative yet unanswered questions. Humans are celebrated among the animal kingdom for our proclivity to create and use tools and have the most complex and diverse technology on earth. Our capacity for tool use has altered our ecological environments irrevocably. How can we achieve so much, yet tool innovation be such a difficult and late-developing skill for children? In this article, I briefly summarize w...
Source: Child Development Perspectives - March 25, 2022 Category: Child Development Authors: Bruce S. Rawlings Tags: Article Source Type: research
The impact of parents ’ smartphone use on language development in young children
AbstractSmartphone use is ubiquitous in the lives of parents, and an emerging area of research is investigating how parental smartphone use during parent –child interactions affects children’s language outcomes. Findings point toward negative outcomes in language development, but it is less clear what processes affect language outcomes. Gaze following, parental responsiveness, and joint attention are also reduced when parents use their smartphone , and all are critical to language development. In this article, we propose that these factors may mediate the effects of technoference due to parents’ smartphone use on lan...
Source: Child Development Perspectives - March 23, 2022 Category: Child Development Authors: Amanda J. Morris,
Maria Laura Filippetti,
Silvia Rigato Tags: Article Source Type: research
Infant color perception: Insight into perceptual development
AbstractA remarkable amount of perceptual development occurs in the first year after birth. In this article, we spotlight the case of color perception. We outline how within just 6 months, infants go from very limited detection of color as newborns to a more sophisticated perception of color that enables them to make sense of objects and the world around them. We summarize the evidence that by 6 months, infants can perceive the dimensions of color and categorize it, and hav e at least rudimentary mechanisms to keep color perceptually constant despite variation in illumination. In addition, infants’ sensitivity to colo...
Source: Child Development Perspectives - March 22, 2022 Category: Child Development Authors: Alice E. Skelton,
John Maule,
Anna Franklin Tags: ARTICLE Source Type: research
Revisiting goodness of fit in the cultural context: Moving forward from post hoc explanations
AbstractThe goodness-of-fit model, which proposes that developmental outcomes result from combinations of environmental and children ’s factors, has contributed substantially to the recognition of person × environment processes. However, which pattern of person × environment interactions characterizes this model remains unclear, making it difficult to test or compare with other models (e.g., the differential-susceptibilit y model). In this article, we offer solutions for these issues. We propose that a contrastive effect pattern best summarizes both goodness of fit and poorness of fit. We outline methodological con...
Source: Child Development Perspectives - March 2, 2022 Category: Child Development Authors: Shuyang Dong,
Judith Semon Dubas,
Maja Dekovi ć Tags: Article Source Type: research
The effects of language instruction on math development
AbstractHow does language shape mathematical development? In this article, we consider this question by reviewing findings from cross-sectional and longitudinal research. In this literature, we find that differences in the structures of languages and individual variations in language ability are associated with mathematical performance in both obvious and unexpected ways. We then consider the causal nature of these relations, with a focus on experimental studies that have tested the effects of language instruction on mathematical outcomes. Findings from this work show that certain forms of language instruction meaningfully...
Source: Child Development Perspectives - March 1, 2022 Category: Child Development Authors: Daniel R. Espinas,
Lynn S. Fuchs Tags: Article Source Type: research
The risks and opportunities of the COVID ‐19 crisis for building longitudinal evidence on today’s early childhood education programs
AbstractIn the United States, the long-term effects of early childhood programs have been given particular weight in research on early childhood education and in policy debates about the value of prekindergarten. Many research teams were building the evidence base on U.S. early childhood programs to inform that discussion when studies were upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this article, we describe the theoretical and practicalrisks the COVID-19 pandemic poses for longitudinal studies of preschool intervention programs. We also discuss the potentialopportunities the crisis offers by introducing new variation in postprog...
Source: Child Development Perspectives - February 26, 2022 Category: Child Development Authors: Christina Weiland,
Pamela Morris Tags: Article Source Type: research
Promoting racial literacy in early childhood: Storybooks and conversations with young black children
AbstractRacial literacy as defined by Stevenson (2014) is an important cultural resistance strategy (e.g., positive coping strategy) for Black children and youth because it gives them the skills needed to survive in a racist society. Stevenson ’s work, along with the work of several of his colleagues, focuses on adolescents and those in middle childhood, yet it has inspired us to postulate how racial literacy might be fostered in young children (ages 3–8). In this article, we propose a theoretical model for how racial literary can be fostered within shared-reading contexts using racially affirming storybooks coupled wi...
Source: Child Development Perspectives - February 22, 2022 Category: Child Development Authors: Stephanie M. Curenton,
Keshia Harris,
Shana E. Rochester,
Jacqueline Sims,
Nneka Ibekwe ‐Okafor Tags: ARTICLE Source Type: research
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Source: Child Development Perspectives - February 10, 2022 Category: Child Development Tags: ISSUE INFORMATION Source Type: research
Developmental costs associated with early maternal withdrawal
AbstractNeglect is the most prevalent form of maltreatment, but it has been understudied relative to abuse. Additionally, developmental outcomes associated with early maternal withdrawal have been understudied relative to outcomes associated with harsh treatment. However, a large body of studies on rodents has documented the causal effect of low maternal care on altered stress responses in offspring. Other evidence from human studies links early maternal withdrawal to clinical levels of neglect. Studies of both rodents and humans suggest that, rather than the aversive responses (e.g., fight, flight, freeze) modeled in rela...
Source: Child Development Perspectives - February 10, 2022 Category: Child Development Authors: Karlen Lyons ‐Ruth,
Heather A. Yarger Tags: ARTICLE Source Type: research
